DES MOINES, Iowa: A Brazilian scientist who pushed back against chemical fertilizers and researched biologically based approaches to more robust food production has been honored with this year’s World Food Prize, the organization announced Tuesday.
Microbiologist Mariangela Hungria’s research helped her country become an agricultural powerhouse, an accomplishment that has now won her $500,000 from the Iowa-based World Food Prize Foundation. Hungria has been researching biological seed and soil treatments for 40 years, and has worked with Brazilian farmers to implement her findings.
“I still cannot believe it. Everybody said, my whole life, it’s improbable, you are going the wrong way, just go to things like chemicals and so on. And then, I received the most important prize in the world of agriculture,” Hungria said in an interview. “Sometimes I still think I’ll wake up and see that it’s not true.”
Norman Borlaug, who received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970 for his work to dramatically increase crop yields and reduce the threat of starvation in many countries, founded the World Food Prize. Since the first prize was handed out in 1987, 55 people have been honored.
Hungria said she grew up wanting to alleviate hunger. Early in her career, she decided to focus on a process called biological nitrogen fixation, in which soil bacteria could be used to promote plant growth. At that time, farmers in Brazil and around the world were reluctant to reduce their use of nitrogen fertilizers, which dramatically increase crop production but lead to greenhouse gas emissions and pollutes waterways.
Hungria studied how bacteria can interact with plant roots to naturally produce nitrogen. She then demonstrated her work on test plots and began working directly with farmers to convince them that they wouldn’t have to sacrifice high crop yields if they switched to a biological process.
The work is credited for increasing yields of several crops, including wheat, corn and beans, but it has been especially affective on soybeans. Brazil has since become the world’s largest soybean producer, surpassing the United States and Argentina.
Although Hungria’s research could be applied on farms in other countries, soybean production in the US is different than it is in Brazil; American farmers typically rotate crops on their land between growing corn and soybeans. Enough nitrate fertilizer applied to corn still remains in the soil when soybeans are planted that little or no fertilizer needs to be applied, Hungria said.
Brazilian agricultural companies have faced fierce criticism for clearing forested land to create farmland, largely to grow soybeans.
Much of that criticism is justified, Hungria said, but she added that her biological approach builds up the soil and makes further encroachment into forested areas less necessary.
“If you manage the crop well, the crop will enrich the soil with nitrogen. Soil health improves if you do the right things,” she said.
Hungria will be awarded her prize at an annual October gathering in Des Moines of agricultural researchers and officials from around the world.
Gebisa Ejeta, chair of the World Food Prize Laureate Selection Committee, credited Hungria for her “extraordinary scientific achievements” that have transformed agriculture in South America.
“Her brilliant scientific work and her committed vision for advancing sustainable crop production to feed humanity with judicious use of chemical fertilizer inputs and biological amendments has gained her global recognition both at home and abroad,” Ejeta said in a statement.
Food grown with fewer chemicals? A Brazilian scientist wins $500,000 for showing the way
https://arab.news/g5ewb
Food grown with fewer chemicals? A Brazilian scientist wins $500,000 for showing the way
- Microbiologist Mariangela Hungria’s research helped her country become an agricultural powerhouse
Princess of Wales hands out trophy to Jannik Sinner after Wimbledon final against Carlos Alcaraz
- Kate is the patron of the All England Club and presented the winner’s trophy to Sinner after he beat Alcaraz 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 on Center Court
LONDON: Kate, the Princess of Wales, returned to Wimbledon on Sunday along with her husband Prince William and two of their children to watch the men’s final between Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner.
Kate is the patron of the All England Club and presented the winner’s trophy to Sinner after he beat Alcaraz 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 on Center Court. The princess has been gradually resuming her public duties following cancer treatment and was at Wimbledon for a second straight day. On Saturday, she attended the women’s final and gave champion Iga Swiatek her prize after a 6-0, 6-0 victory and offered consoling words to runner-up Amanda Anisimova.
On Sunday the British royals were joined by King Felipe VI of Spain, a number of former Wimbledon champions and a slew of Hollywood celebrities.
Actors Keira Knightley, Matthew McConaughey, Nicole Kidman and John Lithgow were all seated in the Royal Box, as was London Mayor Sadiq Khan.
William and Kate arrived at the All England Club together with their oldest son, Prince George, and daughter Princess Charlotte. Before the men’s final, they spent some time chatting with Julian Cash and Lloyd Glasspool, who on Saturday became the first all-British duo in 89 years to win the men’s doubles title at Wimbledon.
Last year, while recovering from cancer, Kate did not attend the women’s final but was on hand for Alcaraz’s win against Novak Djokovic at the All England Club.
This week she also welcomed French President Emmanuel Macron during a state visit to Britain.
Gisele Pelicot and Pharrell Williams get France’s top honor
- Gisele Pelicot, who became a feminist icon by publicly testifying over the mass rapes she endured
- Rapper-turned-fashion designer Pharrell Williams were among 589 people awarded France’s top civic honor on Sunday
PARIS: Gisele Pelicot, who became a feminist icon by publicly testifying over the mass rapes she endured, and rapper-turned-fashion designer Pharrell Williams were among 589 people awarded France’s top civic honor on Sunday.
Pelicot, 72, and Williams were both named knights of the Legion of Honour on a list announced ahead of France’s July 14 national day.
Pelicot earned international tributes for her courage in testifying at a trial in 2024 against her former husband, who drugged her and arranged for her to be raped by dozens of men over a decade.
She has since been named on lists of the world’s most influential people by international media and the case helped forced a change in France’s rape law.
But Pelicot has remained silent since the trial. Her lawyer says she is concentrating on writing a book giving her side of the mass rape story which is to be released in 2026.
Williams, 52, made his name as a rapper and singer but earned a second fortune as a music producer and after designing clothes and accessories for several brands. He has been Louis Vuitton’s men’s creative director since 2023.
His recent Paris show attracted a host of international celebrities, including Jay Z and Beyonce, film directors Steve McQueen and Spike Lee and football and basketball stars.
Actor Lea Drucker, veteran singer Sylvie Vartan, writer Marc Levy and Auschwitz deportee Yvette Levy, 99, were also among the figures awarded the Legion of Honour along with a host of former ministers, academics and top legal names.
Hungary’s oldest library is fighting to save 100,000 books from a beetle infestation
- The 1,000-year-old Pannonhalma Archabbey is a sprawling Benedictine monastery that is one of Hungary’s oldest centers of learning and a UNESCO World Heritage site
PANNONHALMA, Hungary: Tens of thousands of centuries-old books are being pulled from the shelves of a medieval abbey in Hungary in an effort to save them from a beetle infestation that could wipe out centuries of history.
The 1,000-year-old Pannonhalma Archabbey is a sprawling Benedictine monastery that is one of Hungary’s oldest centers of learning and a UNESCO World Heritage site.
Restoration workers are removing about 100,000 handbound books from their shelves and carefully placing them in crates, the start of a disinfection process that aims to kill the tiny beetles burrowed into them.
The drugstore beetle, also known as the bread beetle, is often found among dried foodstuffs like grains, flour and spices. But they also are attracted to the gelatin and starch-based adhesives found in books.
They have been found in a section of the library housing around a quarter of the abbey’s 400,000 volumes.
“This is an advanced insect infestation which has been detected in several parts of the library, so the entire collection is classified as infected and must be treated all at the same time,” said Zsófia Edit Hajjdu, the chief restorer on the project. “We’ve never encountered such a degree of infection before.”
Abbey houses historical treasures
The beetle invasion was first detected during a routine library cleaning. Employees noticed unusual layers of dust on the shelves and then saw that holes had been burrowed into some of the book spines. Upon opening the volumes, burrow holes could be seen in the paper where the beetles chewed through.
The abbey at Pannonhalma was founded in 996, four years before the establishment of the Hungarian Kingdom. Sitting upon a tall hill in northwestern Hungary, the abbey houses the country’s oldest collection of books, as well as many of its earliest and most important written records.
For over 1,000 years, the abbey has been among the most prominent religious and cultural sites in Hungary and all of Central Europe, surviving centuries of wars and foreign incursions such as the Ottoman invasion and occupation of Hungary in the 16th century.
Ilona Asvanyi, director of the Pannonhalma Archabbey library, said she is “humbled” by the historical and cultural treasures the collection holds whenever she enters.
“It is dizzying to think that there was a library here a thousand years ago, and that we are the keepers of the first book catalogue in Hungary,” she said.
Among the library’s most outstanding works are 19 codices, including a complete Bible from the 13th century. It also houses several hundred manuscripts predating the invention of the printing press in the mid-15th century and tens of thousands of books from the 16th century.
While the oldest and rarest prints and books are stored separately and have not been infected, Asvanyi said any damage to the collection represents a blow to cultural, historical and religious heritage.
“When I see a book chewed up by a beetle or infected in any other way, I feel that no matter how many copies are published and how replaceable the book is, a piece of culture has been lost,” she said.
Books will spend weeks in an oxygen-free environment
To kill the beetles, the crates of books are being placed into tall, hermetically sealed plastic sacks from which all oxygen is removed. After six weeks in the pure nitrogen environment, the abbey hopes all the beetles will be destroyed.
Before being reshelved, each book will be individually inspected and vacuumed. Any book damaged by the pests will be set aside for later restoration work.
Climate change may have contributed
The abbey, which hopes to reopen the library at the beginning of next year, believes the effects of climate change played a role in spurring the beetle infestation as average temperatures rise rapidly in Hungary.
Hajjdu, the chief restorer, said higher temperatures have allowed the beetles to undergo several more development cycles annually than they could in cooler weather.
“Higher temperatures are favorable for the life of insects,” she said. “So far we’ve mostly dealt with mold damage in both depositories and in open collections. But now I think more and more insect infestations will appear due to global warming.”
The library’s director said life in a Benedictine abbey is governed by a set of rules in use for nearly 15 centuries, a code that obliges them to do everything possible to save its vast collection.
“It says in the Rule of Saint Benedict that all the property of the monastery should be considered as of the same value as the sacred vessel of the altar,” Asvanyi said. “I feel the responsibility of what this preservation and conservation really means.”
The biggest piece of Mars on Earth is going up for auction in New York
- The natural history-themed sale on Wednesday features a 54-pound hunk of Mars estimated at $2 million to $4 million
NEW YORK: For sale: A 54-pound (25-kilogram) rock. Estimated auction price: $2 million to $4 million. Why so expensive? It’s the largest piece of Mars ever found on Earth.
Sotheby’s in New York will be auctioning what’s known as NWA 16788 on Wednesday as part of a natural history-themed sale that also includes a juvenile Ceratosaurus dinosaur skeleton that’s more than 6 feet (2 meters) tall and nearly 11 feet (3 meters) long.
According to the auction house, the meteorite is believed to have been blown off the surface of Mars by a massive asteroid strike before traveling 140 million miles (225 million kilometers) to Earth, where it crashed into the Sahara. A meteorite hunter found it in Niger in November 2023, Sotheby’s says.
The red, brown and gray hunk is about 70 percent larger than the next largest piece of Mars found on Earth and represents nearly 7 percent of all the Martian material currently on this planet, Sotheby’s says. It measures nearly 15 inches by 11 inches by 6 inches (375 millimeters by 279 millimeters by 152 millimeters).
“This Martian meteorite is the largest piece of Mars we have ever found by a long shot,” Cassandra Hatton, vice chairman for science and natural history at Sotheby’s, said in an interview. “So it’s more than double the size of what we previously thought was the largest piece of Mars.”
It is also a rare find. There are only 400 Martian meteorites out of the more than 77,000 officially recognized meteorites found on Earth, Sotheby’s says.
Hatton said a small piece of the red planet remnant was removed and sent to a specialized lab that confirmed it is from Mars. It was compared with the distinct chemical composition of Martian meteorites discovered during the Viking space probe that landed on Mars in 1976, she said.
The examination found that it is an “olivine-microgabbroic shergottite,” a type of Martian rock formed from the slow cooling of Martian magma. It has a course-grained texture and contains the minerals pyroxene and olivine, Sotheby’s says.
It also has a glassy surface, likely due to the high heat that burned it when it fell through Earth’s atmosphere, Hatton said. “So that was their first clue that this wasn’t just some big rock on the ground,” she said.
The meteorite previously was on exhibit at the Italian Space Agency in Rome. Sotheby’s did not disclose the owner.
It’s not clear exactly when the meteorite hit Earth, but testing shows it probably happened in recent years, Sotheby’s said.
The juvenile Ceratosaurus nasicornis skeleton was found in 1996 near Laramie, Wyoming, at Bone Cabin Quarry, a gold mine for dinosaur bones. Specialists assembled nearly 140 fossil bones with some sculpted materials to recreate the skeleton and mounted it so it’s ready to exhibit, Sotheby’s says.
The skeleton is believed to be from the late Jurassic period, about 150 million years ago, Sotheby’s says. It’s auction estimate is $4 million to $6 million.
Ceratosaurus dinosaurs were bipeds with short arms that appear similar to the Tyrannosaurus rex, but smaller. Ceratosaurus dinosaurs could grow up to 25 feet (7.6 meters) long, while the Tyrannosaurs rex could be 40 feet (12 meters) long.
The skeleton was acquired last year by Fossilogic, a Utah-based fossil preparation and mounting company.
Wednesday’s auction is part of Sotheby’s Geek Week 2025 and features 122 items, including other meteorites, fossils and gem-quality minerals.
French prisoner escapes in fellow inmate’s luggage
- The inmate “took advantage of the liberation of his fellow inmate to hide himself in his luggage and get out,” the statement said
LYON: France’s prison service said Saturday it had launched an investigation after a man escaped by smuggling himself into his cellmate’s bag as he left jail, having served his sentence.
The 20-year-old prisoner escaped from Corbas prison, near Lyon, southeast France, on Friday, broadcaster BFMTV reported.
The inmate was serving several sentences, the prison service said in a statement to AFP.
He “took advantage of the liberation of his fellow inmate to hide himself in his luggage and get out,” the statement said.
The escaped prisoner was also under investigation in a case linked to organized crime, a source close to the affair told AFP.
An internal investigation is underway and Lyon prosecutors had opened their own investigations, the prison service added.
